The Fifty Year Tradition
Bonita vs. San Dimas: The Smudge Pot Football Game
The year 2022 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Smudge pot football game. The game is one of of the oldest high school football rivalries in Southern California.
Game Scores
| Year | Date | Bonita Score | San Dimas Score | Winner | San Dimas Coach | Bonita Coach |
| 1972 | 11/17/1972 | 0 | 33 | San Dimas | Bob Biaz | Pete Lopez |
| 1973 | 11/9/1973 | 7 | 13 | San Dimas | Bob Biaz | Pete Lopez |
| 1974 | 11/16/1974 | 0 | 14 | San Dimas | Bob Biaz | Pete Lopez |
| 1975 | 10/4/1975 | 14 | 7 | Bonita | Bob Biaz | Pete Lopez |
| 1976 | 10/7/1976 | 7 | 26 | San Dimas | Bob Biaz | Pete Lopez |
| 1977 | 10/14/1977 | 0 | 13 | San Dimas | Don Warhurst | Pete Lopez |
| 1978 | 11/18/1978 | 14 | 24 | San Dimas | Don Warhurst | Pete Lopez |
| 1979 | 11/2/1979 | 10 | 7 | Bonita | Don Warhurst | Pete Lopez |
| 1980 | 10/4/1980 | 23 | 0 | Bonita | Don Warhurst | Ray de Shane |
| 1981 | 9/25/1981 | 2 | 13 | San Dimas | Don Warhurst | Ray de Shane |
| 1982 | 9/24/1982 | 14 | 0 | Bonita | Don Warhurst | Dan Castanon |
| 1983 | 9/23/1983 | 14 | 20 | San Dimas | Don Warhurst | Dan Castanon |
| 1984 | 9/21/1984 | 0 | 46 | San Dimas | Don Warhurst | George King |
| 1985 | 9/27/1985 | 0 | 23 | San Dimas | Dick Shelbourne | George King |
| 1986 | 9/26/1986 | 6 | 13 | San Dimas | Dick Shelbourne | Thom Young |
| 1987 | 9/25/1987 | 14 | 14 | Tie | Dick Shelbourne | Thom Young |
| 1988 | 9/23/1988 | 31 | 21 | Bonita | Dean Bennet | Tom Martinez |
| 1989 | 9/22/1989 | 21 | 28 | San Dimas | Dean Bennet | Tom Martinez |
| 1990 | 9/21/19990 | 8 | 34 | San Dimas | Dean Bennet | Jack Simpson |
| 1991 | 9/27/1991 | 3 | 13 | San Dimas | Dean Bennet | Jack Simpson |
| 1992 | 11/6/1992 | 3 | 28 | San Dimas | Dean Bennet | Dave Stauffer |
| 1993 | 11/12/1993 | 0 | 19 | San Dimas | Dean Bennet | Dan Harden |
| 1994 | 10/14/1994 | 31 | 6 | Bonita | Dean Bennet | Dan Harden |
| 1995 | 10/20/1995 | 12 | 28 | San Dimas | Dave Williams | Dan Harden |
| 1996 | 11/2/1996 | 19 | 7 | Bonita | Greg Setlich | Larry Hatley |
| 1997 | 11/7/1997 | 14 | 3 | Bonita | Ted Clarke | Larry Hatley |
| 1998 | 11/6/1998 | 27 | 0 | Bonita | Ted Clarke | Larry Hatley |
| 1999 | 11/12/1999 | 33 | 0 | Bonita | Ted Clarke | Larry Hatley |
| 2000 | 09/29/2000 | 18 | 16 | Bonita | Ted Clarke | Eric Podley |
| 2001 | 10/05/2001 | 14 | 0 | Bonita | Mark Haynes | Eric Podley |
| 2002 | 10/11/2002 | 31 | 21 | Bonita | Roland De Anda | Eric Podley |
| 2003 | 10/10/2003 | 17 | 20 | San Dimas | Roland de Anda | Eric Podley |
| 2004 | 10/8/2004 | 21 | 13 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2005 | 10/7/2005 | 34 | 33 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2006 | 10/6/2006 | 35 | 14 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2007 | 10/5/2007 | 10 | 24 | San Dimas | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2008 | 10/12/2008 | 33 | 50 | San Dimas | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2009 | 10/10/2008 | 13 | 21 | San Dimas | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2010 | 9/3/2010 | 41 | 20 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2011 | 9/1/2011 | 40 | 20 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Eric Podley |
| 2012 | 8/23/2012 | 36 | 37 | San Dimas | Bill Zernickow | Adrian Medrano |
| 2013 | 8/29/2013 | 33 | 13 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Adrian Medrano |
| 2014 | 10/2/2014 | 23 | 14 | Bonita | Bill Zernickow | Adrian Medrano |
| 2015 | 9/25/2015 | 28 | 7 | Bonita | Mark Holman | Adrian Medrano |
| 2016 | 8/26/2016 | 14 | 42 | San Dimas | Mark Holman | Ibis Aguilar |
| 2017 | 8/26/2017 | 8 | 19 | San Dimas | Mark Holman | Ibis Aguilar |
| 2018 | 9/8/2018 | 28 | 14 | Bonita | Mark Holman | Steve Bogan |
| 2019 | 9/14/2019 | 35 | 25 | Bonita | Mark Holman | Steve Bogan |
| 2020 | - | - | - | |||
| 2021 | 9/11/2021 | 28 | 14 | Bonita | Mark Holman | Steve Bogan |
| 2022 | 9/10/2022 | 21 | 13 | Bonita | Mark Holman | Steve Bogan |
| 2023 | 9/9/2023 | 28 | 0 | Bonita | Mark Holman | Steve Bogan |
Wins by Decade
School Total Smudge Pot Game Wins by Decade| Decade | Bonita | San Dimas | Ties |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 2 | 6 | |
| 1980 | 3 | 6 | 1 (1987) |
| 1990 | 5 | 5 | |
| 2000 | 6 | 4 | |
| 2010 | 7 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total Wins | 26 | 24 | 1 |
Coaching Record
Table listing all the Smudge Pot games won sorted by Coaches| Coach | Wins | School | 1st Win | 2nd Win | 3rd Win | 4th Win | 5th Win | 6th Win | 7th Win | 8th Win |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Podley | 8 | Bonita | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2010 | 2011 |
| Don Warhurst | 5 | San Dimas | 1977 | 1978 | 1981 | 1983 | 1984 | |||
| Dean Bennett | 5 | San Dimas | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | |||
| Bob Biaz | 4 | San Dimas | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1976 | ||||
| Larry Hatley | 4 | Bonita | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | ||||
| Bill Zernickow | 4 | San Dimas | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2012 | ||||
| Steve Bogan | 5 | Bonita | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||
| Adrian Medrano | 3 | Bonita | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | |||||
| Pete Lopez | 2 | Bonita | 1975 | 1979 | ||||||
| Dick Shelbourne | 2 | San Dimas | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 (tie) | |||||
| Mark Holman | 2 | San Dimas | 2016 | 2017 | ||||||
| Ray De Shane | 1 | Bonita | 1980 | |||||||
| Dan Castanon | 1 | Bonita | 1982 | |||||||
| Dan Harden | 1 | Bonita | 1994 | |||||||
| Dave Williams | 1 | San Dimas | 1995 | |||||||
| Roland de Anda | 1 | San Dimas | 2003 | |||||||
| Tom Martiniez | 1 | Bonita | 1988 | |||||||
| Thom Young | 0 | Bonita | 1987 (tie) | |||||||
| George King | 0 | Bonita | ||||||||
| Greg Setlich | 0 | San Dimas | ||||||||
| Ted Clarke | 0 | San Dimas | ||||||||
| Mark Haynes | 0 | San Dimas | ||||||||
| Ibis Aguilar | 0 | Bonita |
The 1970s were dominated by the new upstart San Dimas Saints. The Saints won 6 Smudge Pot Bowl games during the decade led by Coach Bob Biaz who won 4 of the games. Bonita won their first smudge pot in 1975 and the second under Coach Pete Lopez in 1979.
San Dimas Coach Don Warhurst won 5 Smudge Pot Bowl games (tied for first among Saint Coaches) through the late 1970s and early 1980s. With Bonita and San Dimas entering different leagues there was some concern that the Smudge Pot game tradition would end, however the game would continue as a non-league game. The 1987 game ended in the only tie 14 to 14.
The 1990s saw each school win 5 games each. Saint’s Coach Dean Bennet won 5 straight Smudge Pot games (tying a Saint record) though the late 80’s and early 90s while Bonita Coach Larry Hatley won 4 straight Smudge Pots and a CIF Championship in 1999.
Between 1996 and 2006, Bonita won 10 of 11 Smudge Pot games under Coaches Larry Hatley and Eric Podley. Saints Coach, Bill Zernickow, would win 3 straight Smudge Pots from 2007 to 2009. Over the aughts Bonita would win 6 of the games while San Dimas won 4.
The great irony of the 2010’s is even though Bonita won 7 Smudge Pot games against San Dimas, this was the most successful era of Saint’s football. Under Coaches Bill Zernickow and Mark Holman the Saints developed one of the strongest football programs in the valley winning CIF Championships in 2009 and 2013 and were CIF Finalists in 2015.
Legendary San Gabriel Valley football coach, Steve Bogan, took over the Bonita program in 2018 and won 3 straight Smudge Pot Games. The 2020 game was canceled because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Bonita won the 2021 game 28-14. The fiftieth anniversary game will be played in 2022 and the fiftieth game will be played in 2023.